Hala Asamarai won the Columbia Heights school board seat Tuesday that's been vacant and in the public eye since a board member allegedly posted an anti-Muslim comment on social media in the fall.
Asamarai, 38, who has her doctorate in education, faced off against Tim Utz, 58, a perpetual campaigner for state and local elections. She beat Utz by nearly 150 votes, garnering 740 to his nearly 600.
She fills the seat of Grant Nichols, who resigned after a contentious start to the school year; her election restores the Columbia Heights school board to six members. Nichols stepped down in October, dogged by a Facebook comment attributed to him on social media that was critical of Muslims' alleged bathroom habits. He denied posting the comment.
Before Tuesday, reports from the candidates and their supporters indicated that voters were split.
Some in the Muslim community weren't supporting Asamarai even though she is Muslim because of an unrelated issue involving a mosque in Eden Prairie, where Asamarai's father and husband are board members, Asamarai said last week. Instead, this contingent threw its support to Utz, who had backed Nichols' efforts to keep his school board seat.
Many Utz supporters reached Friday said they were exercising their right to choose a candidate regardless of ethnicity or religion. Utz listened well to concerns from the Muslim community, said Columbia Heights resident Osman Ahmed.
The Columbia Heights district has changed demographically since CAIR-Minnesota executive director Jaylani Hussein attended school there. He said when he graduated from Columbia Heights High School in 2000, he was one of a small group of minority students.
The population of minority students has been steadily increasing over the past few years in the district, and has risen from about 50 percent minority students in the 2005-06 school year to about 75 percent this school year, according to Minnesota Department of Education enrollment data.
